Tech expects surplus

Published: Tuesday, August 14, 2001

BRENT SCHROTENBOERAvalanche-Journal

Several straight years of working in the red may have finally reached the end of the road at Texas Tech.

The Tech athletic department is projecting an annual budget surplus of more than $890,000 for fiscal year 2001, giving the Red Raiders their first budget surplus since 1997, according to recent estimates by Tech.

The latest projections predict $26.2 million in revenue and $25.3 million in expenses for the current fiscal year, which ends on Aug. 31.

"That's assuming all of our revenue comes in as predicted," Tech president David Schmidly said. "It's fabulous news, and a lot of people worked hard to get us there. We kind of feel like we've turned the corner on the budget a bit this year. We're hoping it bottomed out last year in terms of deficits."

From 1998-2000, Tech registered respective budget deficits of at least $680,000, including $1.3 million last year. Tech officials cited the legal costs of an NCAA investigation and a football coaching staff transition in 1999 as primary reasons for recent budget pressures.

After clearing each of those hurdles from 1998-2000, a revenue increase in 2001 has come from at least three directions:

1. An estimated $1 million increase in institutional support from the university.

2. Profits of $250,000 from the galleryfurniture.com bowl last December.

3. An $850,000 increase in transfer money from personal seat licenses in basketball.

The rest of personal seat license (PSL) funds don't normally show up in Tech's regular operating athletics revenue because they've been used to finance the debt service for the construction of United Spirit Arena.

"We had funds available in the PSL account that were over and above the debt service requirement," said Bobby Gleason, Tech's senior associate athletic director. "It's really helping the overall financial picture."

Current projections for 2001 do not include an outburst of season ticket sales in men's and women's basketball. Tech has sold approximately 12,000 season tickets for men's basketball after the hiring of head coach Bob Knight.

Funds from those sales will be deferred to fiscal year 2002, helping give Tech an estimated budget next year of $24.7 million, including a $1 million increase in men's basketball revenue.

"I think if we can get basketball going in the right direction, then it does nothing but affect the budget positively," Knight said.

Tech's $24.7 million budget for 2002 was approved Friday by the board of regents. The move marks an increase from a $20.2 million budget forecast for 2001 and an $18.5 million forecast for 2000.

According to recent figures, the budget increase also is expected to vault Tech more toward the middle of the pack in the Big 12 Conference. Tech's projected budget for 2001 ranked ninth in the league.

Tech's expected surplus this year will come despite $2 million in unforeseen costs for the coaching transition in men's basketball. Former head coach James Dickey was owed at least $1.3 million for buying out his contract.

Brent Schrotenboer can be reached at 766-8733 or at bschrotenboer@lubbockonline.com

OXNARD, Calif. {AP} Cool breezes from the Pacific Ocean and hundreds of cheering, flag-waving fans greeted the Dallas Cowboys on Monday as they made Southern California's Ventura County their training-camp home for the first time since 1989.

Fans began arriving at the practice facility around the time the team plane left Texas. They roared as a police escort led three buses into the parking lot and continued clapping, holding up signs and rattling cowbells as players walked to their rooms.

"I really appreciate them still standing by us," defensive end Greg Ellis said. "We haven't done good since I've been here, haven't done well in the playoffs, and our fans are still loyal. We owe them something, I feel like."

Dallas is practicing at a city park called River Ridge Fields, which the Raiders used when they were based in Los Angeles.

The park is attached to a Marriott Residence Inn that features palm trees in the parking lot and the Topa Topa Mountains in the distance. The beach is only a few miles away.

About 20 miles east is Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, where the Cowboys trained for 27 straight summers starting in 1963. They left after Jimmy Johnson's first year as coach because he decided the team needed to train in hotter weather.

Too much heat brought the Cowboys back to their roots.

After last year's camp left players worn out at the start of the season, team officials decided to split this summer's practices between the triple-digit temperatures of Wichita Falls and Oxnard.

To put the move in perspective, consider that the high in Oxnard this week will be about the same as the low in Wichita Falls.

"This is nice," safety Darren Woodson said. "I think it makes us want to practice a little bit more. Tempo will be really up, guys will be flying around more.

"In Wichita Falls, we had to slow it down for water breaks and all that. I think out here we'll have a chance to get the practices going and keep it crisp a little bit."

The Cowboys are coming off a 20-6 loss to Denver on Saturday night that was worse than the score suggests. Dallas had serious breakdowns on offense, defense and special teams while losing its eighth straight preseason game and 16th of 17.

"We need to get back to work and this is a great place to do it," said coach Dave Campo, one of two remaining coaches from the '89 team that trained in Thousand Oaks.

"We're going to be working out here. There's no question we can get some things done. We'll have a chance to do a few more things because we'll have a little longer practices."

Dallas will practice in Oxnard for two weeks, although the stay will be interrupted by a game at New Orleans on Saturday night.

The mystique of "America's Team" is expected to draw large crowds for all practices, which is something the Cowboys haven't seen since their first year in Wichita Falls.

The locals remain loyal even though Dallas has been gone from the area more than a decade and despite the Raiders having been here more recently.

Then again, Raiders didn't exactly endear themselves to the community draping black tarps over the chain-link fence surrounding the field, preventing anyone from watching. There's now bleachers for about 1,000 fans and spots to sit on the grass.

One of Dallas' most avid supporters is Paul Gallegos, who spent $200 on a 20-foot "Welcome Dallas Cowboys" banner hanging at the back of his house, facing the street that leads to the practice fields.

Gallegos was planning on selling his house earlier this year, then changed his mind after hearing the Cowboys were coming. If the team keeps coming back, he'll remain also.

"I know I'm acting like a 12-year-old," said Gallegos, a 39-year-old owner of an accounting firm who has based his work schedule for the next two weeks around the Cowboys. "But if you understood what it's like to be a fan all this time and to have the boys here  right here!"

Many fans were decked out in Cowboys hats, T-shirts and jerseys.

Most jerseys had the names of players no longer on the team, like Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Daryl Johnston and Jay Novacek. They were able to update their collection at the 18-wheeler souvenir stand the team sent from home.